IAM RoadSmart Director of Policy and Standards Nicholas Lyes said:
“Yet again, we are seeing tragedy on our roads where drink-driving and illegal phone use have been contributory factors in a fatal collision.
In this day of advancing technology, social media companies can play a vital role in deterring people from uploading and sharing pictures and videos of illegal driving on our roads. If we can reduce the temptation for drivers to do this, we may start to break the lethal cycle of using a phone illegally at the wheel for likes and comments online. We call on all social media companies to start updating their policies which either blocks such content or removes it swiftly from their platforms and hands the offending material over to the police."
ENDS
This IAM RoadSmart REACTION relates to a driver who killed a baby boy and his aunt in a horror motorway crash and has been jailed for more than 17 years.
Darryl Anderson, 38, was drunk and taking pictures of himself driving at more than 140mph when he crashed on the A1(M) in County Durham on 31 May.
Eight-month-old Zackary Blades and Karlene Warner, 30, who were passengers in the car he rammed into, were killed instantly, Durham Crown Court heard.
Anderson, from Rotherham, who admitted two counts of causing death by dangerous driving, initially told police his Audi Q5 was being driven by a hitchhiker he had picked up.
Prosecutor Emma Dowling said Zackary's mother Shalorna Warner had taken her sleeping son with her when she went to collect her sister Karlene from Newcastle Airport in the early hours of 31 May.
Anderson, of Clarell Walk in Thorpe Hesley, had also arrived at Newcastle Airport from a holiday which his wife had left early due to his "erratic behaviour", Ms Dowling said.
He collected his Audi Q5 from the airport where a staff member smelled alcohol on him.
Anderson told the worker his wife had left him on holiday but he was going to Bradford to get another one, Ms Dowling said.
Darryl Anderson admitted causing death by dangerous driving